1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to labels, and more particularly to a rotatable label system with inner and outer label surfaces, utilizing a minimum amount of adhesives and eliminating tab related mechanisms.
2. Description of Related Art
Many consumer products, such as vitamins, medications, and food items, are packaged in containers. It is usually desirable to display information in the form of written indicia arranged on the exterior surface of such containers to inform consumers as to the nature and use of the associated product. This information may include directions for use, warnings, dosage amounts, ingredients, company logos, and advertisements. Such information is conventionally printed on a label affixed to the container.
Prior art labels may have insufficient area available, however, to accommodate all of the information that a manufacturer may desire to provide to the consumer. Of course, the manufacturer may include all of the desired information on the label by reducing the size or typeface of some or all of the indicia, or by closely spacing the indicia. However, reduction of the size of text and/or graphics may adversely affect the visual appeal of the container, or may render some or all of the information illegible to the consumer. Furthermore, consumers may tend to ignore information presented in xe2x80x9cfine print.xe2x80x9d
A manufacturer who wishes to provide a relatively large amount of information to the consumer may also opt to place some of the information on a separate sheet of paper (known as an xe2x80x9cinsertxe2x80x9d) packaged with the container. This technique is commonly employed in connection with health care items, such as over-the-counter medications and contact lens solutions. However, the insert is frequently lost or discarded after the initial use of the associated product, thus causing information set forth thereon to become unavailable to the consumer.
Thus, there is a need in the product packaging art for a system for increasing the amount of information that can be presented on a product container. There is a more specific need for a rotatable label system having an augmented surface area for presenting written information, and which is more easily mounted to the container, but without excessive use of adhesives and tab related release mechanisms.
The present invention relates to a rotatable label system, which utilizes a minimal amount of adhesive and eliminates tab mechanisms. The rotatable label system generally includes a container for holding a quantity of a consumer or other type product, and a label or shell disposed about the exterior of the container and conforming thereto. The invention discloses methods and apparatus, and particularly it discloses a label system for application to a container or other object including an inner label having front and rear surfaces and leading and trailing ends. The invention further discloses an adhesive disposed on the rear surface of the inner label at the trailing end for coupling the inner label to the container or itself. Further, the invention discloses an outer label which includes an adhesive only on a rear surface of a trailing end of the outer label for adhering the trailing end of the outer label to the corresponding front surface of the outer label so that the outer label is secured about the container but rotatable about the inner label.
The method includes providing a container, and providing an inner label and an outer label, each label having front and rear surfaces and leading and trailing ends; providing an adhesive on the rear surface of the inner label for fixedly mounting the inner label to the container; providing an adhesive on the rear surface of the outer label for adhering the leading end of the outer label only to the trailing end of the outer label to allow the outer label to freely rotate around the inner label. Also provided is a transparent portion formed in the outer label so that the written indicia disposed on the front surface of the inner label is viewable through the transparent portion of the outer label.